Rolling Thoughts

I like her

So I went on a date Sunday.

Iza and I have been chatting over yahoo personals for a little over a week. She mentioned that she wanted to go to the Building Museum for a design exposition. My ears perked up a bit at that. Not your typical artzy-fartzy crap. So I asked if I could go with her and it was a go = me being nervous.

We met at the B&N cafe downtown and she was punctual (Way bonus points from me). We chatted a bit and then headed to the museum passing the gathering crowds of rather rabbid demonstrators on the way. That was funny and a discussion of US vs European abortion laws/debate ensued (she's Polish).

Then the museum ... we walk in and start in the exhibit ... one of the first pieces is something obviously done on a computer design package. She says "That's AutoCAD. I hate AutoCAD. My heart did a flip right there."

So we have a great time and go get chinese afterwards (she likes spicy food = plus).

I like her. I really do.

Piognant

I scammed this from the "Blowback" section of the Doonebury site:

Subject: HEADING FOR IRAQ
Author: Johanna W.
Location: Green Bay, WI
Posting Date: 4/26/04

I have two friends heading for Iraq in a couple of months. They're a year older than me, but they're still just 18. They're teenaged girls and they should be going out to concerts and watching Saturday Night Live, not killing people. I told them that if they run into B.D. they should give him a hug for me. I started crying right in the middle of chemistry class when I read your strip.

... of course I have to wonder about anyone joining the US military today and NOT expecting to go to combat ...

Digital Warfare and the grunt on the gound

I'm an avid military historian (missed the minor by a couple of credits), gamer, and follow politics as well as world events.

Some 10 years ago the army started what is called "going digital." By taking improvements in communications and networking (largly from the civilian world ... the only other modern instance I can think of of the military taking a civilian application and adapting it to military uses is using a civilian hunting rifle as a sniper weapon) and tying the troops, vehicles, and units together. This would reduce the number of boots on the ground it would take to accomplish the mission by making a lot of 'staff' positions unnecessary that normaly did routine communications work. Let me leave the definition of mission vague for the moment.

Despite reducing manpower requirements this was also attractive to the powers that be because it is considered a "force multiplier." That is a fancy way of saying that if both sides had exactly equal capabilities then the one with the most grunts wins. We've come a long way towards using technology to dominate the battlefield ... as the drive to Baghdad amply demonstrated last year. No force on the planet can stand against the full weight and measure the the US military when it's cranked up to roll. So back to force multiplier ... another way of putting it is that if my troops are 10X as effective as yours and I have 100 of them then you need 1000 just to be equal. Sounds pretty good ... for me right?

Ok, so this digital battlefield is a force multiplier. When the planners started Iraq II they did the standard calculation that if Iraq has 200,000 troops we need 200,000 troops with a 20X mutiplier to overcome them with massive assurance. Worked great. We wiped the map clean of every force that stood and fought. And truth to be told, we did it with a minimum of casualties and even fewer friendly fire incidents.

Now here's the kicker. The mission. It changed. So to define mission... when you're talking about open warfare between professional forces, the force multiplier thing works. But when our forces are policing a city where a 12 year old with a grenade has a good chance of taking out one of ours ... well your force multiplier just dropped to 1:1.

This last week we have seen a general uprising of the Shi'a population under Muqtada al-Sadr against the marines stationed in or around Falluha. This is house-to-house fighting, watch your back, and duck. The marines are ournumbered and fighting hard ... and are dying. They're also getting stretched very thin. Units are rotating out of combat to resupply only to go right back out to relieve other units. I think the cease-fire attempts of the last few days are a direct result of this exhaustive routine.

Our combat arms are being pared down in these times of decreasing budgets and higher deficits all in the name of force-multiplier. I hope the DOD stands up and stops this before more troops die because their relief simply collapsed from exhaustion.

Owww ... aren't they so cute?

Hmm ... this is the first "hobby" entry in a while.

I went down to the B&N in gaithersburg Friday night and saw that the local Malamute rescue society was there collecting donations and letting the people play with the pups. So of course I had to go say hi ... to the dogs that is. Brodie was such a cutie. Wish I could have adopted him. But I chatted for a while and got the womans card. I came back on Saturday and did the same thing. After chatting and playing for a couple of hours I decided to volunteer with the group so I could spend some more time with the dogs.

I've always loved Mals. Smart, low-key, friendly, don't bark (but they do sing), don't require too much attention, and are good alone for 12 hours or so. I'm really thinking of adopting one. Just have to find one that is really mellow. They make GREAT pillows.

Haiku by Jo

sleep, clown won't kill you!
cherry blossoms and hot dogs
office door, still closed.

GO FUCK YOURSELF!!

Happy Daylight Savings

and here I thought I had actually managed to sleep in. Oh well.

Friday I went with Michael to see Bob Dylan in concert. I've never been a Dylan officianato, so it was probably wasted on me for the most part. Michael seemed to get much more out of it at least. It was a great show and the band simply rocked. The lead guitarist was awesome. Completely cool and collected as he went through these phenomenal series of riffs. I was in awe and I don't even play a string instrument!

After we went to Adams Morgan to get a drink. That's a really nice area. But driving there does have it's own problems. I must have seen 20 cop cars on the way back with their lights on. Not a risk I'm willing to take. So next time I go I think I'll take the metro instead. The waitress said that the closest metro stop is a 10 min walk. Not bad at all.

Lets see what else. Oh yes. Got a letter in the mail from our HR dept on Saturday. They've changed our 401K plan so that we are no longer limited to a 19% contribution per paycheck. This pisses me off to no end. For one thing, as far as I can tell it isn't legal to make such a limit in the first place (and why would you?) as the federal limit is 13K this year for most of us. For those that are interested, that would mean you would have to earn $68K per year to max out their IRA through work ... in a facility where 75% of the people make less than $40K. I got a pretty hefty bonus this year that I would have prefered to put 100% of it toward my 401K plan so that it is all pre-tax. Bonuses get taxed at about 42% and my regular pay at about 30%. Instant 12% return on my investements. But no, they make this change last week after all bonuses have been paid out already. So I'm more than a little annoyed. I'm thinking of rolling over my IRA to my schwab account and tell them that I don't support them making money off of me after all the crap they've fucked up in the last year. I have to check if it is ok to do a roll over every 6 months or something. It'll suck if I have to wait until I leave Qiagen now that I'm seriously considering staying a few more years.